Question

A production line at V. J. Sugumaran's machine shop has three stations. The first station can process a unit in 5 minutes. The second station has two identical machines, each of which can process a unit in 12 minutes (each unit only needs to be processed on one of the two machines). The third station can process a unit in 9 minutes. Which station is the bottleneck station, with a bottleneck time of ______ minutes per unit?

Answer 1

The bottleneck station is the one with the highest processing time, which in this case is the second station at 12 minutes per unit.

Step-by-step explanation:

The bottleneck station is the station that has the longest processing time per unit and thus delays the entire production line. To identify it, compare the processing times of each station.

The processing times are as follows:

• The first station takes 5 minutes per unit.
• The second station takes 12 minutes per unit.
• The third station takes 9 minutes per unit.

Since the second station is the one with the highest processing time at 12 minutes per unit, it is the bottleneck station. Therefore, the bottleneck time is 12 minutes per unit.